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Mowat School District

Mowat School District No. 1232

By Pauline Johnston with the help of previous histories: Mrs. R.E. Galbraith and Muriel Solomon.

The Mowat School District was formed on April 25th, 1903 and was dissolved on April 1st, 1967. The school was located on the South-West corner of 7-29-18-W1. The material for the building was hauled from Dauphin. The schoolhouse was completed in the early summer of 1904. It was in 1906 that a flagpole was set up and the Union Jack raised.

The Mowat School was named after Oliver Mowat, one of the Father’s of Confederation. It was situated between the glistening blue-green Mossey River, flowing swiftly northward from its source at the north end of Lake Dauphin, to spill into Lake Winnipegosis at its southern end. The Fishing River vending its way eastward down from the Duck Mountains to join the Mossey at the very center of the District.

By the year 1913 many more people had come in-to the district so the old school was not large enough to accommodate all the children. At first, the school board contemplated building an addition to the old schoolhouse, but then decided to build a bigger and better school instead.

By 1920 there were quite a number of grade eight students who wished to continue their schooling at Mowat, so the school board decided to build another room onto the school, with grades seven to eleven to be taught there. The Mowat High School was used until the end of June 1931 when hardships of the Depression forced it to close.

In January 1951 the teacherage, which had once been the Mowat High School, caught fire. The alarm was raised, however only some of the schoolbooks and library books were able to be saved the rest having been burned up. Until a new school was built, in the summer of 1951, the students were bussed to the school at Fork River.

The third Mowat School was a modern building with a furnace in the basement, hardwood floors and large windows facing south.

When the Mowat School joined the Dauphin Ochre Large School Area, the school was closed June 1968. The last teacher was Mrs. Stanley of Dauphin who taught the last eight years commuting from Dauphin.

In 1969 the schoolhouse was sold to the Kulcheski brothers who had it moved to the village of Sifton and made it into a poolroom. The poolroom was only used for a very short time and then it was closed down. It still sits there empty and neglected.